Multiple spectrum channel, multiple sensor fiber optic monitoring system

ABSTRACT

A multiple sensor fiber optic sensing system includes an optical fiber having at least first fiber optic sensors and second fiber optic sensors deployed along its length. In response to an interrogating pulse, the first fiber optic sensors generate responses in a first optical spectrum window, and the second fiber optic sensors generate responses in a second, different optical spectrum window. The responses in the first optical spectrum window are measured in a first optical spectrum channel, and the responses in the second optical spectrum window are measure in a second, different optical spectrum channel and provide simultaneous indications of one or more parameters, such as temperature and pressure, in the environment in which the sensors are deployed.

BACKGROUND

Hydrocarbon fluids such as oil and natural gas are obtained from asubterranean geologic formation, referred to as a reservoir, by drillinga well that penetrates the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Once awellbore is drilled, various forms of well completion components may beinstalled in order to control and enhance the efficiency of producingthe various fluids from the reservoir. One piece of equipment which maybe installed is a sensing system, such as a fiber optic based sensingsystem.

Fiber optic sensors employ the fact that environmental effects, such aspressure, strain, vibration, and temperature, can alter the amplitude,phase, frequency, spectral content, or polarization of light propagatedthrough an optical fiber. Advantages of fiber optic sensors includetheir light weight, small size, passive nature, energy efficiency,ruggedness, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. In addition,fiber optic sensors have the potential for very high sensitivity, largedynamic range, and wide bandwidth. Yet further, certain classes ofsensors can be distributed or multiplexed along the length of an opticalfiber so that an appropriate interrogation system can be employed tomonitor selected environmental parameters at multiple locations. Whendeployed in a hydrocarbon well, the parameters can provide indicationsof characteristics of production fluids and/or properties of thesurrounding earth formation. Various drilling, production and remedialoperations can then be performed based on the information derived fromthe monitored parameters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain embodiments are described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements. Itshould be understood, however, that the accompanying drawings illustrateonly the various implementations described herein and are not meant tolimit the scope of various technologies described herein.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a temperature and pressure sensingunit that can be used in a multiple-sensor fiber optic monitoringsystem, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a multiple spectrum channel fiberoptic monitoring system having a sensor assembly with multiple sensingunits, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the optical spectrum of an exemplary fibergrating sensor.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the optical spectrum of an exemplarypolarimetric sensor.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of another multiple spectrum channelfiber optic monitoring system having a sensor assembly with multiplesensing units, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of yet another multiple spectrumchannel fiber optic monitoring system having a sensor assembly withmultiple sensing units, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of another fiber optic sensorassembly with multiple sensing units that may be employed inimplementations of a multiple spectrum channel fiber optic monitoringsystem, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of fiber optic sensor assembly withmultiple sensing units that may be employed in implementations of amultiple spectrum channel fiber optic monitoring system, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of a multiple spectrum channel fiberoptic monitoring system with the fiber optic sensor assembly deployed ina wellbore extending into a hydrocarbon-producing formation, inaccordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth to providean understanding of the subject matter disclosed in this application.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thedisclosed subject matter may be practiced without these details and thatnumerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments maybe possible.

In the specification and appended claims: the terms “connect”,“connection”, “connected”, “in connection with”, and “connecting” areused to mean “in direct connection with” or “in connection with via oneor more elements”; and the term “set” is used to mean “one element” or“more than one element”. Further, the terms “couple”, “coupling”,“coupled”, “coupled together”, and “coupled with” are used to mean“directly coupled together” or “coupled together via one or moreelements”. As used herein, the terms “up” and “down”, “upper” and“lower”, “upwardly” and downwardly”, “upstream” and “downstream”;“above” and “below”; and other like terms indicating relative positionsabove or below a given point or element are used in this description tomore clearly describe some embodiments disclosed herein.

Various embodiments comprise a fiber optic sensor system that includes afiber optic sensor assembly having multiple sensors deployed along thelength of an optical fiber. The sensors are configured to provide forsimultaneous measurements of temperature and pressure which can be used,for instance, to compensate for temperature-pressure cross-sensitivityin the measurement. The sensing system further includes a multiplespectrum channel interrogation system that is configured to interrogateand obtain measurements from the sensors in both the time domain and theoptical spectrum domain. In this manner, simultaneous temperature andpressure measurements can be acquired from multiple sensors deployedalong a single optical fiber and the locations of the sensed parametersidentified.

Many existing temperature and pressure fiber sensing systems generallyuse either a tunable laser or a tunable optical filter with a widebandwidth source as a wavelength scanning optical source to obtainmeasurements from a temperature and pressure sensor. The source isoperated in a continuous wave (CW) mode, which limits the sensing systemto one sensor unit for each optical fiber. In addition, this type ofsensing system cannot detect the location of the sensor unit along theoptical fiber.

As demand for more information from smaller size sensing systems grows,so does the demand for sensing systems which can deploy more than onesensor. To handle measurements from multiple sensors, the sensing systemis operated in a time domain in which the optical source is operated ina pulsed mode so that the measurements from the individual sensors canbe separately discerned based on the travel time of the optical pulsespropagating in the optical fiber. Accordingly, embodiments of thesensing system deploy a sensor assembly having multiple temperature andpressure sensors along the length of an optical fiber and interrogatethe sensors using a pulsed optical source. To separate temperaturemeasurements from pressure measurements, separate optical spectrumchannels are implemented.

In various implementations of the sensing system, the temperature andpressure sensors that are deployed include two different types ofsensors: a fiber grating sensor and a polarimetric fiber sensor. Ingeneral, a fiber grating sensor is a sensor that is formed in the coreof the optical fiber by doping an optical fiber with a material such asgermanium and then exposing the side of the fiber to an interferencepattern to produce sinusoidal variations in the refractive index of thecore. Two methods of providing the interference pattern are byholographic imaging and by phase mask grating, either of which changesthe refractive index along the fiber to form a narrow bandwidth opticalreflector. The central wavelength of the grating is determined by thepitch and the average refractive index of the grating. The centralwavelength at which the grating reflects an optical signal is primarilya function of temperature, but is also slightly sensitive to pressure.

A polarimetric fiber sensor generally is built on the length of a sidehole fiber or polarization maintaining (PM) crystal fiber (i.e.,side-hole crystal fiber). A side-hole fiber has two parallel holes whichrun the length of the fiber and are parallel to the core of the fiber.The axes of the holes and the core lie in a common plane. This geometryresults in converting external hydrostatic pressure into anisotropicstress at the core, thereby inducing birefringence. Although changes intemperature can affect the birefringence of the core, the sensitivity ofthe side hole fiber sensor to pressure is substantially greater than itssensitivity to temperature. Consequently, the side-hole fiber opticpressure sensor can be used effectively in applications wheretemperature variations are minimal. However, the relative insensitivityof the side-hole fiber to temperature makes it unsuitable for measuringtemperature.

Accordingly, various embodiments employ a combination of these two typesof sensors to provide simultaneous temperature and pressuremeasurements. By operating the interrogation system in a pulsed mode,multiple combined sensor units may be deployed along a single opticalfiber. Because the combined sensor units include different types ofsensors that have different optical bandwidths, the interrogation systemcan implement multiple optical spectrum channels to separate and measurethe information from each type of sensor. For instance, in the opticalspectrum domain, a fiber grating sensor has a relatively narrow opticalbandwidth of less than 10 nm (e.g., approximately 0.2 nm, as anexample), while a polarimetric sensor has a relatively wide opticalbandwidth that is typically greater than 40 nm. Thus, in someembodiments, a narrow bandwidth optical spectrum channel can be used tomeasure the spectral response of the fiber grating sensor, and a widebandwidth optical spectrum channel can be used to measure the spectralresponse of the polarimetric sensor.

An example of a combined temperature and pressure sensor unit 100 thatmay be employed in various embodiments is shown in the schematiccross-sectional view of FIG. 1. The sensor unit 100 includes an opticalfiber section 102 that passes through an optical feedthrough 104 into achamber 106 defined by a metal housing 108 that is formed, for example,from titanium. Hydrostatic pressure applied to the metal housing 108 istransferred to a glass tube 110 that is disposed within the chamber 106.In the embodiment shown, the inside 112 of the glass tube 110 is filledwith a metal (e.g., gallium or a gallium alloy) that is in liquid formin the intended operating environment. The inside 112 of the glass tube110 is also vented to the chamber 106 of the metal tube 108 through abreather capillary 114 to thereby provide for pressure transfer betweenthe chamber 106 of the metal housing 108 and the inside 112 of the glasstube 110. In this construction, the inside 112 of the glass tube 110forms a pressure chamber operably coupled to the chamber 106 of themetal housing 108, and the metal housing 108 protects the componentstherein from the environment outside the housing 108. As such, thesensor unit 100 is suitable for harsh environments, such as downholemonitoring in oil and gas drilling and production applications. Theoptical fiber section 102 extends into the inside 112 of the glass tube110 where it is coupled to a sequence of optical processing elements,including a fiber grating 116, an in-line polarizer 118, a section ofside-hole fiber or polarization-maintaining crystal fiber 120, and afiber mirror 122, disposed inside the glass tube 110. Exemplaryembodiments of the sensor unit 100 are described in U.S. Pat. No.7,684,656.

In some embodiments, the sensor unit 100 may also include a bellowsstructure (not shown) that is disposed at the end of the metal housing108 opposite the feedthrough 104. In such embodiments, the bellowsstructure provides for longitudinal deformation of the housing 108 inresponse to hydrostatic pressures applied to the sensor unit 110. Suchlongitudinal deformation varies the volume of the chamber 106, therebytransferring the environmental pressure changes to the glass tube 110.

Embodiments of the multiple-spectrum-channel fiber optic sensing systemdisclosed herein include a fiber optic sensor assembly that includesmultiple temperature-pressure sensor units, such as the sensor unit 100,that are deployed along the length of an optical fiber. Oneimplementation of such a system 200 is shown schematically in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sensor system 200 includes an optical fibersensor assembly 202 having multiple sensing units, such as sensing units100 a-n, deployed along the length of an optical fiber 206. Each sensingunit 100 a-n is coupled to the optical fiber 206, such as via arespective tap coupler 208 a-n, which may be a high temperature (HT) tapcoupler. For instance, the HT tap couplers 208 a-n may be fused fibercouplers made with a glass soldering package technique. In theembodiment shown, the tap couplers 208 a-n have a splitting ratio of5:95, such that 5% of the power of the interrogating pulse is directedto the sensing unit. Other splitting ratios also are contemplated,including smaller ratios. In general, the splitting ratio will beselected based on the number of sensor units 100 a-n that are deployedalong the optical fiber 206. Although four sensor units 100 are shown inFIG. 2, it should be understood that optical fiber sensor assembly 202may include fewer or more sensor units depending on the particularapplication in which the sensor 202 is deployed. In variousapplications, such as applications in which the sensor units 100 a-n aredeployed in a downhole environment (e.g., in a hydrocarbon well), thecouplers 208 a-n and sensor units 100 a-n can be configured to withstandand operate in temperatures up to 350° C. and pressures up to 25,000psi.

With reference again to FIG. 2, the optical fiber sensor assembly 202further includes delay fibers 210 that are disposed between couplers 208to introduce a delay in the propagation of the optical signals. Thesedelays facilitate distinguishing the returning signals generated by thesensor units 100 a-n from one another based on their respective traveltimes. The location of each sensor unit 100 a-n also can be discernedbased on the travel times and the known velocity of light propagating inthe optical fiber.

The sensor system 200 further includes an interrogation system 212coupled to the optical fiber sensor assembly 202 via the optical fiber206. As shown in FIG. 2, the interrogation system 212 includes anoptical pulse generator 214 which drives a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) 216, which is capable of generating optical pulses at awavelength suitable for interrogating the sensor units 100 a-c. The SOA216 can be implemented, for example, by part number SOA-S-C-14-FCAavailable from CIP Technologies of Suffolk, UK, although othersemiconductor optical amplifiers can also be used that are suitable forthe particular application in which the sensor system 200 is employed.In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the SOA 216 can generate opticalpulses at an optical wavelength of 1550 nm for launching into theoptical fiber sensor 202.

To interrogate the sensing units 100 a-n, the optical pulse generator214 generates a pulse to drive the SOA 216. The SOA 216 then generatesan optical pulse (e.g., in the form of an amplified spontaneousemission) that is launched into the optical fiber 206. A portion of theinterrogating pulse propagates to each of the sensing units 100 a-n viatheir respective tap couplers 208 a-n. In response, each sensing unit100 a-n reflects some of the power of the interrogating pulse (e.g. onthe order of 1-5%) back to the interrogation system 212. Because of thedelay fiber 210 imposed between each of the sensing units 100 a-n, theflight time for the reflected signals is different for each of thesensing units 100 a-n, which allows for selection of a particularsensing unit 100 for measurement, as will be further explained below. Inaddition, because each sensing unit 100 a-n includes two differentsensors (e.g., a fiber grating sensor 116 to measure temperature and apolarimetric sensor 120 to measure pressure), the returned signal fromeach sensor unit 100 a-n includes a combination of the spectralcomponents generated by both types of sensors 116 and 120 in response toan interrogating pulse.

Because the returned signal received by the interrogating system 212will be amplified and re-reflected in an active cavity (as will beexplained in further detail below), the contributions from the twodifferent sensors 116 and 120 in the re-reflected, re-amplified signalwill experience gain competition, which can create complexities whenprocessing the signal to separate the spectral components that areindicative of temperature from the spectral components that areindicative of pressure. Accordingly, to eliminate gain competitionbetween the components of the signal returned from a sensing unit 100,the response from each sensor 116/120 of a sensor unit 100 is measuredseparately by the interrogation system 212 through the implementation ofseparate spectral channels.

For instance, with reference again to FIG. 2, the interrogation system212 includes two optical spectrum channels 218 and 220, which areimplemented by an optical switch 222, a wavelength division multiplexor(WDM) 224, and a polarization scrambler 225. The WDM 224 separates thereturned signal applied at its input into the two channels 218 and 220at its outputs based on wavelength. More particularly, the opticalspectrum channel 218 at one output of the WDM 224 is a narrowbandchannel (e.g., on the order of 10 nm) that is used to measure thecomponents of the returned signal that were generated by the fibergrating sensors 116 of the sensing unit 100 a-c in response to aninterrogating pulse. The optical spectrum channel 220 at the otheroutput of the WDM 224 has a wider bandwidth (e.g., greater than 40 nm)and is used to measure the components of the returned signal that weregenerated by the polarimetric sensors 120 of the sensing units 100 a-cin response to the interrogating pulse.

The optical switch 222 can be implemented, for example, by part numberSW2x1-9N-12-16 available from Sercalo Microtechnology Ltd. ofLiechenstein (although other suitable optical switches also can beemployed). Upon selection of one of the channels 218/220 by the opticalswitch 222 (e.g., by applying an appropriate control signal to theswitch 222), the components of the returned signal that correspond tothe selected channel are routed to the SOA 216 for amplification. Thedriving signal from the pulse generator 214 turns the SOA 216 on andoff. When switched on, the returned signal passes through the SOA 216and is amplified. When switched off, the returned signal is attenuated.Thus, by controlling the pulse repetition rate of the pulse generator214 based on known travel times of the optical pulses in the fiber opticsensor 202, the SOA 216 can be switched on at an appropriate time toselect a signal from a desired particular sensing unit 100 a-n.

When switched on to select a particular sensor unit 100 a-n, the SOA 216amplifies the wavelength components of the returned signal in theselected spectrum channel 218/220 and the amplified signal is thenreflected from a reflector 223 (e.g., a mirror) back to the SOA 216,where it is again amplified, thus forming an active optical loop inwhich the reflected, re-amplified optical pulse leaving the SOA 216contains the wavelengths originally reflected from the selected sensor116/120 of the selected sensing unit 100 a-n in response to theinterrogating pulse. Due to the multiple amplifications experienced bythe reflected signals within the optical loop, strong optical pulses atthe wavelengths corresponding to a selected sensor 116/120 can becreated even when the sensor 116/120 has a very low reflectivity.Consequently, sensing units 100 having sensors with relatively lowreflectivities (e.g., 1-5%) can be interrogated and the number ofsensing units 100 deployed along the optical fiber 206 can be increased.Moreover, the resulting multiple-amplified optical pulse can be moreeasily detected by a spectral analyzer.

Towards that end, the system of FIG. 2 further includes an opticalspectral analyzer (OSA) 226 coupled to the optical path 228 via acoupling device 229, such as a tap coupler or beam splitter, andarranged to detect the spectral envelope of the selected amplifiedoptical signals. The OSA 226 has a relatively wide bandwidth that issuitable for detecting the spectral envelope of the signals returned bythe sensing units 100 a-n. For instance, in the embodiment shown in FIG.2, the SOA 216 generates interrogating pulses with an optical wavelengthof 1550 nm, the gratings 116 have a nominal central wavelength at about1516 nm and a bandwidth of less than 10 nm, and the polarimetric sensors120 have a bandwidth on the order of 40 nm. To detect the spectralenvelope of the returned signals, the OSA 226 in this embodiment has abandwidth of 80 nm in the 1510-1590 nm range and can be implemented, forexample, by part number I-MON E-USB 2.0 available from Ibsen Photonicsof Farum, Denmark. It should be understood, however, that other suitablewavelength scanning devices with different bandwidths may also be usedthat are configured to scan the optical spectrum of the signals returnedfrom the particular types of sensors that make up the sensing units 100in the optical fiber sensor assembly 202.

To derive temperature measurements, the OSA 226 scans over the spectralcomponents in the amplified signal from the fiber grating sensor 116 toidentify a maximum peak therein. A change in the peak wavelength isindicative of temperature of the environment in which the fiber gratingsensor 116 is deployed.

Similarly, when the optical switch 222 selects the second channel 220,which is the wide bandwidth channel, the signals generated by thepolarimetric sensors 120 are routed to the SOA 216 through apolarization scrambler 225, amplified, reflected from the reflector 223,re-amplified by the SOA 216, routed into the single recombined channel228 by the WDM 224, and detected by the OSA 226 through the tap coupler229. The OSA 226 scans over the spectral components in the amplifiedsignal from the polarimetric sensor 120 to identify the interferenceoptical spectrum. The differential optical length between x andy-polarization modes is representative of the change in the differentialoptical length between x and y-polarization beams of the polarimetricsensor 120 and, thus, is indicative of the pressure present in theenvironment of the polarimetric sensor 120.

In the embodiment shown, the polarization scrambler 225 is present inthe second spectrum channel 220 because the signal returned from thepolarimetric sensor 120 is highly polarized and the SOA 216 has a highpolarization dependent loss. This loss can be eliminated by depolarizingthe signal prior to routing it to the SOA 216.

In various embodiments, the OSA 226 can include an optical receiver,such as a photodiode array, that detects the amplified signal and has anoutput coupled to a signal processing system 230, such as by a wiredcommunication channel (e.g., USB) or wireless communication channel. Thesignal processing system 230 includes one or more suitable processingdevices 232 (e.g., a general purpose processor, special purposeprocessor, application specific processor, etc.) with associated memory234 and is configured to evaluate the spectral response obtained from aselected sensing unit 100 to derive measurements of temperature andpressure present in the environment of the sensing unit. As furtherexamples, the signal processing system 230 also can be configured toderive pressure-compensated temperature measurements and/ortemperature-compensated pressure measurements. These measurements can beanalyzed in real-time in order to inform decisions about actions thatshould be taken in the environment in which the fiber optic sensorassembly 202 is deployed. For instance, in hydrocarbon exploration andproduction applications, these actions can include operating a downholecomponent, such as a valve, to control the flow of production fluid inthe wellbore. Alternatively, the measurements can be stored as data in astorage device for later analysis and use.

An example of the optical spectrum of a fiber grating sensor 116 with acentral wavelength at 1516 nm, as measured by the OSA 226 through thefirst channel 218, is shown in the graph 240 in FIG. 3, which plotsamplitude on the vertical axis against wavelength on the horizontalaxis. This measurement can be processed by the processing system 230 todetermine the peak wavelength of the fiber grating sensor 116 and, thus,to derive a measurement of temperature. An example of the opticalspectrum of a polarimetric sensor 120 measured by the OSA 226 throughthe second channel 220 is shown in the graph 250 in FIG. 4, which plotsamplitude on the vertical axis against wavelength on the horizontalaxis. The optical path length of the polarimetric sensor 120, which isindicative of pressure, can be obtained by processing the opticalspectrum using a fast Fourier transform algorithm. The two measurementsfrom the two spectrum channels 218, 220 thus can together providesimultaneous measurements of temperature and pressure.

Another embodiment of a multiple channel, multiple sensor fiber opticmonitoring system 260 is shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, theoptical switch is not used and two optical spectrum channels 262, 264are implemented instead using an SOA 266 and reflector 268 in the firstchannel 262 provided at one output of the WDM 224 and another SOA 272and reflector 274 in the second channel 264 provided at the other outputof the WDM 224. The use of different SOAs 266, 272 to separately amplifythe reflected signals from the fiber grating sensors 116 and thereflected signals from the polarimetric sensors 120 can speed up theacquisition of the measurements since the two channels can perform themeasurements simultaneously. The pulse generator 214 applies drivingpulses simultaneously to both SOAs 266, 272 in order to select a desiredsensing unit 100 a-n for measurement. The amplified and reflectedsignals from both sensors 116, 120 in each of the sensor units 100 a-nare measured by the OSA 226 and processed by the signal processingsystem 230 as described above in order to derive the temperature andpressure measurements.

A further embodiment of a multiple channel, multiple sensor fiber opticmonitoring system 280 is shown in FIG. 6. In this embodiment, the twooptical spectrum channels 282, 284 are implemented using an SOA 286, areflector 288 and an OSA 290 (and tap coupler 291) dedicated to thefirst channel 282, and an SOA 292, a reflector 294 and an OSA 296 (andtap coupler 297) dedicated to the second channel 284, along with thepolarization scrambler 225. In one implementation of the system 280 ofFIG. 6, the SOA 286 generates optical pulses having a wavelength in therange of 1310 nm, and the SOA 292 generates optical pulses having awavelength in the range of 1550 nm. A WDM 299 is a 1310/1550 nm WDM, andthe OSAs 290 and 296 are narrow bandwidth devices configured to detectspectral components centered about 1310 nm and 1550 nm, respectively.The use of interrogating pulses with different wavelengths increases thenumber of sensing units 100 that can be deployed along a single opticalfiber. The pulse generator 214 applies separate driving signals to eachof SOAs 286, 292 in order to select a particular sensing unit 100 a-nfor measurement. The OSAs 290 and 296 are coupled to the signalprocessing system 230 so that the optical spectra detected by the OSAs290 and 296 can be processed and temperature and pressure measurementsderived therefrom.

In the embodiments discussed thus far, the sensing units 100 a-n haveincluded fiber grating sensors 116 and polarimetric sensors 120 tomeasure temperature and pressure, respectively, and the variouscomponents in the interrogating system 212 operate in wavelength rangesthat are suitable for the signals reflected by those types of sensors.It should be understood, however, that the time-domain, multiplespectrum channel interrogating system 212 can be employed with variousother types of fiber optic sensors (such as a Fabry-Perot Cavity sensor)that have differing spectral responses. It should be further understoodthat the particular sensors used may be based on the type of parameterto be monitored in a particular application, and that the monitoredparameters can be parameters other than temperature and pressure, suchas vibration and strain. Yet further, each of the different sensor typesincluded in the fiber optic sensor assembly may monitor the same type ofparameter (e.g., temperature), but with a different type of spectralresponse to that parameter.

As an example, an embodiment of the time domain, multiple spectrumchannel interrogating system 212 described herein can be employed with afiber optic sensor assembly that employs wavelength multiplexingtechniques, such as either of the fiber optic sensor assemblies 300 and302 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively. With reference to FIG. 7, thefiber optic sensor assembly 300 includes an optical fiber 304 withmultiple fiber gratings 306 a-n, 308 a-n, and 310 a-n disposed along itslength with delay fibers 312 disposed between gratings. In thisembodiment, the gratings 306 a-n, 308 a-n, and 310 a-n are arranged ingroups 318, 320, and 322, where the gratings within a particular grouphave substantially the same central wavelength. When employed with animplementation of the time domain, multiple spectrum channelinterrogating system 212 described herein, the responses from each group318, 320, 322 of gratings may be separately measured in separatespectrum channels. A particular group 318, 320, 322 of sensors andparticular sensors 306, 308, 310 within a selected group can be selectedby controlling the pulse generator that drives the SOA(s) in theinterrogation system 212, in the manner described above. Theinterrogation system 212 may include a separate spectrum channel foreach group of sensors and any number of groups with any number ofsensors can be implemented, depending on the particular application inwhich the sensor 300 is deployed.

With reference to FIG. 8, the fiber optic sensor assembly 302 againincludes an optical fiber 314 with multiple fiber gratings 324 a-c, 326a-c, 328 a-c disposed along its length with delay fibers 330 disposedbetween gratings. The gratings are arranged in groups 332, 334, 336. Inthis embodiment, each grating 324, 326, 328 within each group has adifferent central wavelength from the other gratings in its group.Accordingly, when employed with an implementation of the time domain,multiple spectrum channel interrogating system 212 described herein, theresponses from each sensor within a selected group are measured inseparate spectrum channels. A particular group of sensors and particularsensors within a selected group can be selected by controlling the pulsegenerator that drives the SOA(s), in the manner described above. Again,any number of groups and any number of sensors within each group may bedeployed depending on the particular application and the capabilities ofthe interrogating system 212.

In some embodiments, the systems and techniques described herein may beemployed in conjunction with an intelligent completion system disposedwithin a well that penetrates a hydrocarbon-bearing earth formation.Portions of the intelligent completion system may be disposed withincased portions of the well, while other portions of the system may be inthe uncased, or open hole, portion of the well. The intelligentcompletion system may comprise one or more of various components orsubsystems, which include without limitation: casing, tubing, controllines (electric, fiber optic, or hydraulic), packers (mechanical, sellor chemical), flow control valves, sensors, in flow control devices,hole liners, safety valves, plugs or inline valves, inductive couplers,electric wet connects, hydraulic wet connects, wireless telemetry hubsand modules, and downhole power generating systems. Portions of thesystems that are disposed within the well may communicate with systemsor sub-systems that are located at the surface. The surface systems orsub-systems in turn may communicate with other surface systems, such assystems that are at locations remote from the well.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a fiber optic cable, such as opticalfiber 206 with sensor assembly 202 having multiple sensors, may bedeployed in a wellbore 340 to observe physical parameters associatedwith a region of interest 342. In some embodiments, the fiber 206 andsensor assembly 202 may be deployed in the annulus between a productiontubing 344 and a casing 346 as shown. An interrogation system 212 may belocated at a surface 350 and coupled to the optical fiber 206 totransmit the interrogating pulses to the sensor assembly 202, and detectreturned spectral components in the signals returned by the varioussensors of the sensor assembly 202. The detected spectral components maybe processed by the processing system 230 to determine the parameters ofinterest (e.g., temperature, pressure) in the manners described above.The processing system 230 may be co-located with the interrogationsystem 212, may be in the same locale as the system 212, or may beremotely located and the data representative of the detected componentsmay be transmitted via satellite or other communication network to theremote location, such as a remote control center.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, to reach the region of interest 342,the wellbore 340 is drilled through the surface 350 and the casing 346is lowered into the wellbore 340. Perforations 352 are created throughthe casing 346 to establish fluid communication between the wellbore 340and the formation in the region of interest 342. The production tubing344 is then installed and set into place such that production of fluidsthrough the tubing 344 can be established. Although a cased wellstructure is shown, it should be understood that embodiments of thesubject matter of this application are not limited to this illustrativeexample. Uncased, open hole, gravel packed, deviated, horizontal,multi-lateral, deep sea or terrestrial surface injection and/orproduction wells (among others) may incorporate a multiple sensor,multiple channel fiber optic monitoring system as described. In manyapplications, temperature and/or pressure measurements obtained from theregion of interest using a multiple sensor, multiple channel system mayprovide useful information that may be used to increase productivity.For instance, the measurement may provide an indication of thecharacteristics of a production fluid, such as flow velocity, flowcomposition, and inflow location. This information then can be used toimplement various types of production or remedial operations, such ascontrolling valves to prevent production from certain zones, control theflow rate, and/or to control an injection profile.

While the subject matter of this application has been disclosed withrespect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art,having the benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate numerousmodifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appendedclaims cover such modifications and variations as fall within the truespirit and scope of this application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for monitoring at least one parameter ina region of interest, comprising: an optical fiber having a plurality offirst fiber optic sensors and a plurality of second fiber optic sensorsdisposed along its length to deploy in the region of interest; and aninterrogating system coupled to the optical fiber to launch an opticalpulse to interrogate the first and second fiber optic sensors and todetect reflected signals generated by the first and second fiber opticsensors in response to the optical pulse, wherein each of the firstfiber optic sensors generate a first reflected signal in a first opticalspectrum window and each of the second fiber optic sensors generate asecond reflected signal in a second optical spectrum window, the firstoptical spectrum window being different than the second optical spectrumwindow, the interrogating system including a first optical spectrumchannel to measure a first reflected signal and a second opticalspectrum channel to measure a second reflected signal, the measuredfirst and second reflected signals providing simultaneous indications ofat least one parameter in the region of interest.
 2. The system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the first fiber optic sensors are fibergrating sensors and the second fiber optic sensors are polarimetricsensors, wherein the first reflected signals generated by the fibergrating sensors provide an indication of temperature in the region ofinterest and the second reflected signals generated by the polarimetricsensors provide an indication of pressure in the region of interest. 3.The system as recited in claim 2, further comprising a plurality ofsensing units coupled to the optical fiber at a plurality of uniquelocations along its length, wherein each sensing unit includes one ofthe fiber grating sensors and one of the polarimetric sensors, and thefirst reflected signal and the second reflected signal generated by eachsensing unit provide simultaneous indications of temperature andpressure at the corresponding unique location.
 4. The system as recitedin claim 3, wherein each polarimetric sensor is built on a side holefiber or a polarization maintaining crystal fiber.
 5. The system asrecited in claim 3, wherein each sensing unit further comprises anenclosure defining a chamber, the chamber containing the fiber gratingsensor, the polarimetric sensor and a liquid metal.
 6. The system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the first fiber optic sensors are firstfiber grating sensors that generate the first reflected signals atsubstantially a same first central wavelength, and wherein the secondfiber optic sensors are second fiber grating sensors that generate thesecond reflected signals at substantially a same second centralwavelength that is different than the first central wavelength.
 7. Thesystem as recited in claim 1, wherein the interrogating system includesa semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) optically coupled to the opticalfiber to select for amplification a reflected signal generated by aparticular fiber optic sensor of the first and second fiber opticsensors, wherein the SOA selects the reflected signal based on a traveltime of the optical pulse in the optical fiber.
 8. The system as recitedin claim 7, wherein the SOA is coupled to the first optical spectrumchannel to select for amplification particular first reflected signalsgenerated by the first fiber optic sensors, and wherein theinterrogating system includes another SOA coupled to the second opticalspectrum channel to select for amplification particular second reflectedsignals generated by the second fiber optic sensors.
 9. The system asrecited in claim 7, wherein the interrogating system includes an opticalspectrum analyzer (OSA) optically coupled to the SOA to detect theselectively amplified first and second reflected signals.
 10. The systemas recited in claim 9, further comprising a processing system coupled tothe OSA to derive the at least one parameter from the detected reflectedsignals.
 11. A method of measuring at least one parameter in a region ofinterest, comprising: launching an optical pulse into an optical fiberdeployed in a wellbore formed in the region of interest, the opticalfiber having a plurality of first fiber optic sensors and a plurality ofsecond fiber optic sensors disposed along its length, wherein each ofthe first fiber optic sensors generates a first spectral response to theoptical pulse in a first optical spectrum window, and wherein each ofthe second fiber optic sensors generates a second spectral response tothe optical pulse in a second optical spectrum window different than thefirst optical spectrum window; measuring the first spectral responses ina first optical spectrum channel having a first optical bandwidthsufficient for the first optical spectrum window; and measuring thesecond spectral responses in a second optical spectrum channel having asecond optical bandwidth sufficient for the second optical spectrumwindow, the measured first and second spectral responses providingsimultaneous indications of at least one parameter in the region ofinterest.
 12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:selecting for measurement in the first optical spectrum channel a firstspectral response generated by a particular first fiber optic sensorbased on a travel time of the optical pulse in the optical fiber; andselecting for measurement in the second optical spectrum channel asecond spectral response generated by a particular second fiber opticsensor based on a travel time of the optical pulse in the optical fiber.13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising: amplifyingthe first spectral response selected for measurement in the firstoptical spectrum channel; and amplifying the second spectral responseselected for measurement in the second optical spectrum channel.
 14. Themethod as recited in claim 11, further comprising processing themeasured first spectral responses and second spectral responses toderive the simultaneous indications of the at least one parameter in theregion of interest.
 15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein themeasured first spectral responses are processed to derive indications oftemperature in the region of interest, and the measured second spectralresponses are processed to derive indications of pressure in the regionof interest.
 16. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the firstfiber optic sensors are fiber grating sensors, and the second fiberoptic sensors are polarimetric sensors.
 17. The method as recited inclaim 11, wherein the first fiber optic sensors are fiber gratingsensors having first spectral responses around a first centralwavelength, and the second fiber optic sensors are fiber grating sensorshaving second spectral responses around a second central wavelength. 18.The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising deploying theoptical fiber into the wellbore.
 19. An apparatus for detecting aparameter in a region of interest, comprising: an optical source tolaunch an optical pulse into an optical fiber deployed in a wellboreformed in the region of interest, the optical fiber having first sensorsand second sensors deployed along its length, each of the first sensorsgenerating a first response to the optical pulse in a first opticalspectrum range, and each of the second sensors generating a secondresponse to the optical pulse in a second optical spectrum range; afirst optical spectrum channel to receive the first responses generatedby the first sensors; a second optical spectrum channel to receive thesecond responses generated by the second sensors; an amplifier toamplify the first responses received in the first optical spectrumchannel separately from the second responses received in the secondoptical spectrum channel; and an optical spectrum analyzer to detectspectral components in the amplified first responses and the amplifiedsecond responses, the detected spectral components indicative of atleast one parameter in the region of interest.
 20. The apparatus asrecited in claim 19, further comprising a processing system coupled tothe optical spectrum analyzer to process the detected spectralcomponents and provide indications of the at least one parameter. 21.The apparatus as recited in claim 19, wherein the detected spectralcomponents in the first responses are indicative of temperature in theregion of interest, and the detected spectral components in the secondresponses are indicative of pressure in the region of interest.
 22. Theapparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising a second amplifierto amplify the second responses received in the second optical spectrumchannel.